No, these conspiracy theorists are crazy. The NBA draft lottery is not rigged.

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Yes, the NBA draft lottery is rigged!

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No, these conspiracy theorists are crazy. The NBA draft lottery is not rigged.

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Who knows?

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Currently, the NBA draft lottery works like this: the 14 NBA teams that did not make the playoffs are sorted by regular season record, from worst to best. The worst team has a 25% chance of landing the first pick, the second worst team has about a 20% chance, down to the 14th team getting a mere 0.5% chance. The ping pong ball lottery system is used to determine the second and third draft picks also. The remaining draft picks are given out based on records.

Sports conspiracy theorists believe that the NBA draft lottery is fixed to improve business for the NBA. They point to the first lottery when the top draft pick went to the New York Knicks so that they could land Patrick Ewing. Other shady things: Ohio native Lebron James going to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago player Derrick Rose going to the Chicago Bulls. In the past 15 drafts, the team with the worst record only won two lotteries. You can believe that people will suspicious if the Oklahoma City Thunder win the 2009 lottery and land native Blake Griffin.